— 53 — unless I went back to my trade and left the country, he would fight me and take away my kingdom from me by force of arms. I replied to his messengers, "Go ! Tell your king that I will never relinquish a dominion that I have won with my sword, and that on a mere threat : if he considers me of so slight account let him bring his forces against me, those forces of which he thinks so highly because they can defeat a handful of pagan savages". Tikma, thereupon, despatched a large army, and we fought for thirteen months. And, indeed, the war lasted long, through no fault of mine, for, although the enemy had nought but spears and swords with which to fight, they made use of a system of communicating from village to village by means of signals. Now this was the system they employed : at a distance of an hour or an hour and a half's journey from one another, men were posted, and, when any one of them saw us on the march, he sounded an instrument called the Runga ; the signal was picked up and passed on by the next man, and, in this way, was transmitted to the villagers, who were thus warned of our advance long before we could reach them. The Runga itself is a large piece of wood which is hollowed out, and made in the form of an animal, such as a buffalo or elephant : it is beaten with a stick that has three strings of india rubber after the manner of an European fiddle. I'roni this instru-